February 18, 2018

Being In Uncertainties

In her provocative book “Being Wrong – Adventures in the Margin of Error” author Kathryn Schulz explores, among other things, the mindset that often prevails in creative fields.

She observes that “If error is a kind of accidental stumbling into the gap between representation and reality, art is an intentional journey to the same place” and goes on to quote poet John Keats writing to his brother about the same thing:

… at once it struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in literature and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.

She goes on to note that “If you listen to artists talk about their craft, this concept of “negative capability” – the ability to live comfortably in the presence of mystery and the absence of certainty – comes up with remarkable frequency.”